NeoCon East focuses on what's trending across sectors

Posted Date: 10/8/2013

[Baltimore, Md.]NeoCon East, taking place on October 16-17 at the Baltimore Convention Center, announced it tapped its talented advisory committee of architecture and design professionals to shed some light on trends that attendees can anticipate across the vertical markets on display.

President of Avancé, LLC Cheryl Duvall, FIIDA, MSOD will host her seminar “No Office, No Problem: An Inside Look at Co-Working” on Thursday, October 17 at 9:30 am.

Duvall comments, “What is interesting to note is that these spaces aren’t just for start-ups or the lone entrepreneur. Large companies, such as Zappos and State Farm, as well as venture capitalists, academic institutions, and public-private partnerships are also embracing co-working.”

Studio Hasset’s Valerie Hasset notes, “Retail design is incorporating more natural materials lately; and the use of reused, refurbished or recycled architectural elements juxtaposed with glass or steel is a hot trend.”

Rebecca Straub, associate at RTKL, will host her seminar “Why Do Hospitals Have to Look like Hospitals” on Wednesday, October 16 at 9:30 AM.

According to Straub, “The floor you stand on in a hospital ICU room is about to change. While monochromatic sheet vinyl has previously been the trend, new over-scale graphic patterns are starting to take over!”

Lou Ghitman, hospitality associate, AIA, IIDA, principal & director of interior architecture of Design Collective, said, “The big trends that we see in the marketplace revolve around the idea of “Whole Life Living,” in which residents are engaged in a “home” that is connected to all aspects of their work/living experience.”

Ghitman’s seminar, “The New American Dream: Multi-Family Housing” will be on Wednesday at 9:30 AM.

According to Steve Ziger, principal of Ziger/Snead and founding board member of the new Baltimore Design School, “A trend we are seeing in education is the integration of design-thinking within the most progressive K-12 curricula.”

Ziger will discuss the project and the trend towards design-thinking on Wednesday, October 16 from 2:30-3:30PM as part of the show’s conference program.

According to Dan McAneney with the GSA, "Government areas are becoming more and more streamlined, in terms of both aesthetics and the way in which people work. When taking on projects, our goal is to be economical and judicious with space.”